All 37.0 - The End of All
With the plan in place, the group allowed the echo to end, returning them to Riolythe. Nisa disguised herself as Pierce, and teleported herself and Cress to another spot in Riolythe; Harlequin teleported Victor and Lucca to Korova in the Northlands; Gemini teleported Ryuji and Cohen to the western foothills of Asanon; Pierce, already invisible before exiting the echo, teleported himself to the ritual in Kalleandar. Lucca transformed into a small bird and alighted on Victor’s shoulder, beginning the ritual himself. Victor began to run, chased by several manta-like All who were quickly joined by two Conglomerates. Victor tried to hide among a nearby stand of trees while Harlequin drew their attention, but he had only a few seconds of respite. He managed to fight his way through the All, but sustained terrible wounds. As a last ditch attempt to give Lucca the remaining seconds he needed, Victor left the small bird hidden in a bush while he ran forwards. Chased by the Conglomerates, Victor called out for Harlequin, but before the fey could make it to him, he was struck with a ray of petrification, followed by a ray of disintegration, destroying him utterly. Harlequin saw enough of this to know what had happened; he rushed back to Lucca and, as soon as the ritual was complete, he took him back to the desert without explanation. They were the first to return; the others followed presently. Nisa, using her cadre of skeletal minions, fashioned a ball of sorts out of their bodies that she could ride inside, allowing the All to chase her while she focused on casting the sealing ritual. Cress climbed inside with her. Rolling around, they quickly came under attack. The ball was repeatedly picked up and thrown, as well as blasted with arcane force. It was smashed before the ritual could be completed, disrupting the casting. Using the cover of the scattered skeletons, Nisa and Cress became invisible and hid in some long grass as the bone-sphere reformed and rolled away as a distraction. Nisa took the opportunity to cast the ritual again. The skeletons did not last long enough to allow Nisa to finish; Cress began to run interference himself, which gave her the necessary time. Nisa finished her part of the sealing spell; she collected Cress and teleported back to the desert to await the others. Cohen used Reduce Person on himself, while Ryuji turned into a wolf. Cohen managed to complete the ritual while riding on Ryuji, who dodged and avoided the All in the foothills. The difficulty of maintaining concentration while riding meant that he lost the spell several times before managing to finish it. Gemini returned them to where the others all waited. The rift had been sealed; the All could no longer enter Materia. However, there was no word from Pierce. They cast Sending to him, and got a terse reply that he needed a bit more time. To ensure there was enough of a distraction, some of the group teleported to the outskirts of Kalleandar and diverted attention without risking themselves overmuch, before returning to the desert to wait. Just as they were considering contacting Pierce a second time, they were hit with a powerful shockwave. Picking themselves up, it was easy to see that the All’s influence over the land had disappeared. Returning to Kalleandar’s outskirts, the group surveyed the results of their work. Lucca was in shock over the sudden loss of Victor; Cress was torn between helping his friend and going to find his mother in the wrecked city. Ryuji was relieved, while Cohen and Nisa were particularly intrigued by the fact that the area still seemed to be covered in Shares, which for some reason had begun blinking. Approaching one, they found it was no longer fixed in place, and no longer required ascendant power to destroy. Nisa and Cohen excitedly gesticulated about the dissected creature. Before they could dissect a second, a voice stopped them. The owner was simultaneously Percival Webber and something else entirely, and had just teleported there. His attentions were obviously divided, though he brokenly tried to explain that the creatures who were left were not All, and that he had to protect them. Nisa and Cohen quickly surmised that whatever had happened in regards to the ritual, it had fused Pierce with the remaining All, which were no longer really extraplanars but rather converted to Materian beings. Pierce implored them to help protect the creatures, which were scared, lost and confused, and who were already drawing the ire of the people of Mirilarin. As he spoke, he was summoning what appeared to be Completes, but they had lost their dispassionate air, and seemed frightened and confused as they huddled where they were gathered. Cohen, still manic from their victory and his attainment of the lost notes of the first elves, found this rather amusing and interesting, while Nisa was sympathetic towards the man who had apparently fused with a hive mind, and who likely wouldn’t have much of his individuality left after much longer. Regardless, everyone agreed to head into the city to gather up as many Shares and Completes as possible while he continued to summon them away from further locales. As everyone looked around, it seemed that Harlequin and Gemini had both disappeared without so much as a goodbye. Cress and Lucca wandered in the direction of the city, the elf trying to support his devastated friend; Ryuji, Cohen and Nisa walked in separately. They spread out through the chaotic ruin of a city, where the confused populace ran about rioting, panicked and confused about how it was suddenly freezing, how they had been in one place and suddenly another, and how the city was in physical shambles. Regardless, they found a great number of these new Completes, whom they shepherded towards the city limits, and more Shares than could possibly be collected by them alone, scattered thickly over building surfaces. When they found all they could, they brought them back out to the field where Pierce was still summoning them. There were now easily hundreds, possibly thousands, but it was hard to tell, since they seemed to fold in on themselves as they cowered, making them rather small indeed. As the group pondered where Pierce was going to move so many of these creatures, Cohen came to a realization, and began to panic: the High Council of Arcana would certainly find this of interest, and would undoubtedly be upon them in a moment. True to his word, within minutes they were hit with a series of spells, locking them and preventing magical escape. They could hear muttering, as several people conferred. They were addressed by invisible voices, who commanded them to stand down, and who were holding them responsible for the current crises in Asanon and beyond. Cohen froze, knowing that there was no way he wouldn’t be incarcerated and killed by them, as the Wizard Council had made it rather clear that they would much prefer the alchemist dead than feeding inventions to the government, undermining their market. However, his collar prevented him from pre-emptively retaliating, and running would be senseless. Pierce, for what little he could focus on them, tried to explain the situation, aided by Ryuji and Nisa. The four figures unveiled themselves: the Grand Abjurer, the Grand Diviner, the Grand Necromancer and the Grand Enchanter were all present. After the explanation, they had several issues which they took up one at a time: they did not fully believe their story, and were obviously threatened by the alien creatures before them; the two beings registering as undead were obviously incredibly powerful, by the Diviner’s measures, and since the Council could not recognize them as sentient free-willed beings and since they obviously weren’t registered, there was a strict legal issue, and; Cohen was a wanted criminal, and, since he was somehow there and not in jail, he had to be apprehended immediately. Pierce, ever the eloquent one even in this state, pleaded his case to the councilmen. After he spoke, they agreed that, should the creatures leave the country immediately and not bother a single person in Asanon even remotely from this second forwards, they technically had no proof that these things had anything to do with the current chaos, and had no concrete reason to persecute them. Pierce agreed to these terms, stating that he would take the lost beings to somewhere remote in the Northlands, away from people. He muttered to the others that he was regretful that he couldn’t speak up for any of them, but he couldn’t risk being seen as oppositional and provoke their ire against the huddled creatures under his care. With that, he moved aside. Nisa and Ryuji tried to explain that they weren’t made by a necromancer, that they were perfectly intelligent, free-willed beings, but the Grand Necromancer was not buying their story. Eventually, particularly at the urgings of the Diviner and Enchanter, he agreed to let it go for the moment by making them swear to return to their headquarters later and be subject to more rigorous testing of their sentience. As this argument dragged on, the Grand Diviner declared that there were far more important things for them to be doing: if these creatures weren’t a threat, then the ensuing chaos and rioting in the cities was a more pressing issue than a few unregistered undead and a single escaped government criminal. With that, she left to attend to other matters. Finally, the remaining councilmen turned their attentions towards Cohen. All three demanded that he be remitted into their custody immediately for return to incarciration, but it was implied from their past actions and current demeanours that he was unlikely to be handed over to the government alive. Ryuji in particular spoke out against them; he understood that Cohen was a criminal and had to be punished, but since he had now escaped twice, it was obvious that he couldn’t be held effectively, and, based on the actualities of his crimes, the time he had already served was due punishment enough. Cress supported his statements. It was also made clear that they did not recognize the authority of the Wizard Council to make arrests. The three sized up the group defending Cohen. From what could be heard from their mutterings, it sounded as though they did not want to risk a fight; if the two undead and the two other men came to the doctor’s aid, to say nothing of the strange alien creatures, they would be put in serious personal danger. Eventually, they came to a decision: the adventurers had mentioned in their story that they had found a way to leave the continent. It was declared that, if Cohen were to impose an exile on himself immediately and leave Mirilarin for the rest of what years remained to him, the High Council of Arcana would not pursue him. They would watch him through magical means until such time as he passed away. Cohen accepted this deal. Though some councilmen were more satisfied than others, all three took their leave, much to the group’s relief. Cress, still anxious for Lucca, who had remained silent and withdrawn through the exchange, made to walk towards the city. He explained that he had to go find his mother and make sure she was alright; with a promise to be right back, he jogged away. Ryuji walked off a distance to speak to his wife through his ring, informing her of the day’s tidings. Pierce teleported away, beginning the lengthy task of moving all of the displaced extraplanars to the Northlands. Cohen sat down on the grass near Lucca; Nisa, after making plans to meet Cohen back there in a few minutes so that they could take their leave of the continent in the Gunakedeit, walked towards the city. After sitting for a moment, Lucca silently got up and wandered towards a stand of trees some distance away. Nisa returned with a fresh batch of skeletal minions, dug up from a local cemetary. She teleported Cohen and her away. With that, the adventurers had disbanded, and the world was as it should be once more. Category:Advent of the All